Ghost Story
by Archaeologist
Summary: ObiWan doesn't believe in ghosts until he meets one.


**Ghost Story  
Genre:** angst, drama  
**Characters:** Obi-Wan Kenobi, Other character Rael  
**Key words:** ghost  
**Summary:** Obi-Wan doesn't believe in ghosts until he meets one.  
**DISCLAIMER:** I do not Obi-Wan Kenobi or the Star Wars concept; Lucasfilm does. I am very respectfully borrowing them with no intent to profit. No credits have changed hands. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

_Soft sobs. Quiet hiccups of despair and hopeless longing. The mournful sounds of sorrow. Sad whispers of 'please' and 'help me' and 'I'm lost'. _

A quicksilver flash of icy fingers ghosted across his shoulders. Deep in meditation, Obi-Wan had not expected that shocking touch of glacial cold. Instantly, he whipping around, hissing a warning even as his grey eyes sought to discover who had touched him.

But the glade was empty. And he was alone.

Puzzled and more than a little unsettled, he listened intently, hoping to discover the source of his unease. But he could only hear the placid white noise of leafy trees rustling in the breeze and his own startled breath echoing in the quiet garden. There was no young voice hushed in anguish, no quivering grief. There was only the wind.

Peering into the gently swaying shrubs, he remembered the rumors.

A haunted garden, they said, and a ghost of long ago that still roamed its placid, emerald heart. But hehad dismissed such foolishness. There was no death - there was the Force. Besides, no one had ever shown the slightest evidence of spirits roaming this reality. Merely stories to frighten the young and inexperienced.

With that thought, Obi-Wan's disquiet began to slowly seep away, dispersing into the Force as he took one deep breath and then another. Telling himself that it was only a dream, a hopeless figment of his own vivid imagination, he sought to find his center and disperse the uneasy feeling still lingering in the backreaches of his mind. Dreams fade in time. His Master told him that and he believed it.

He believed it. He must believe it.

He pushed aside the ghosting ache of something still wrong even as his flesh clung to the memory of spectral frost. Shivering slightly, he began to rise, brushing a quick hand through his copper hair as though in comfort, all the while rotating his shoulders in a futile attempt to push away the feeling of missing a vital clue to this mystery. Sternly, he told himself that there was no mystery. No voices in the whispering wind. No one there.

But he jerked back suddenly as the clammy touch of a crypt-cold hand slid across his face.

The colors in the afternoon wind seemed to deepen then, the golden glow of sunlight fluxing into the smeared stain of dried blood. The breeze grew sharper somehow, a howling clamour of papery leaves brushing against the wind, their chaotic hiss growing ever louder in the dying light. Ghostly cries of despair began to fill the space as Obi-Wan backed up.

_'Help me. I'm lost.' _

The mournful disembodied plea jolted him out of his reverie. He realized now that the sounds were real, no fantastic dream but a living nightmare. And he was caught dead center.

Desperately trying to tamp down his fear, his grey eyes pierced the deepening gloom. Frantically looking into the glade, through the swaying frenzy of green, he spied a glimmering of hoarfrosted light.

A small child, five maybe six, showed a faint blue in the darkened murk. Crying piteously, the misery seemed to pour off the hunched form even as the tear-stained face looked straight at Obi-Wan. At any other time, the child would be considered adorable - black hair, huge blue eyes, a cute dimple on one cheek - but in the icy cold of howling wind and death light, he was only terrified… and terrifying.

Yet the blue eyes begged for understanding.

_'Help me.' _

In that instant, Obi-Wan knew that he had to answer the plea. A child, lost and alone, needed help to find his way back - to the Force and its all-embracing Light - home. And he would give it, no matter the cost.

Somehow he shook himself free of the icy tendrils of dread that filled his heart even as he accepted the risk. Acknowledging the pointed warnings of the Force, he gathered his courage and moved carefully toward the shimmering form of the homesick child.

Obi-Wan had read of lost souls, the dead ones who could not find their way into the welcoming arms of the Force. They drifted endlessly, frightened and alone, unable to accept their own death. Often they resisted any attempt to help them find their path. The decision of how and what to do could be crucial to the potential rescuers since they would often perish as they became as trapped as the ones they were trying to help.

But Obi-Wan could not just walk away from such misery. He would help this child or die trying.

"Hello, little one."

_'You can see me?' _

The tentative hope in the boy's shining eyes almost broke Obi-Wan's heart. "Yes, I'm willing to help, if I can."

Smiling shyly, the child stood up and started to glide towards him. But almost without thought, the instinctual fear of touching this dead soul deepened in Obi-Wan's mind. He had to ruthlessly suppress his reaction but, for an instant, he stepped backwards out of reach.

The hopelessness in the child's face returned and one shimmering tear slid down the smooth cheek_. 'Please, I'm lost. I don't like it here. I want to go home.' _

Swallowing his involuntary panic, Obi-Wan asked gently, "Where is your home? Do you know?"

The young one shook his head. Blinking fiercely, his blue eyes were a bottomless well of grief_. 'No, I can't find it. Something bad happened to me here. Can you help me?' _

"I don't know. But I will try." The urge to help this child grew, pushing the dread into the dark corners of his mind.

A sad smile as the young one repeated the age-old Jedi wisdom. _'There is no try.'_

Obi-Wan nodded. The ancient saying helped to ease the boy's troubled face. "There is only do. Have others tried to help you before, little one?"

Shaking his head, the boy looked away. The whisper was thin and aching with grief_. 'No, they've all run away. Left me here alone. I don't like to be alone. I tried to get them to stay but that only made them run away faster.' _

"I won't leave you. Do you know what happened?"

Frowning, the child's response was hesitant. _'I think, I think I died here a long time ago. I tried to find my way home to the Force just like they taught us but I can't find it. I'm too little. Can you help me?' _

"Perhaps if we meditate together, the Force will guide us both." Calm words softly spoken seemed to quiet the boy's anguish.

A small fist wiped at the tears. _'I'm scared. It's been so long. No one would let me near them. They all ran away. Until you. Can I hold your hand when we do this? I feel better when I hold someone's hand.' _

Obi-Wan shuddered at the thought. But then realizing that he must get past his own deep-seated panic for both their sakes, he took a long slow breath and smiled gently. "I'll do better than that. Come and sit beside me. Together we will find your way home."

The child's face lit up in a shy grin. Ghost or not, he was still only a little boy and lost. Scurrying to his side, he raised one small hand, silently begging to be held. Obi-Wan knelt down and opened his arms. With a heart-wrenching sob, the boy leapt into his embrace.

Cold, cold. Obi-Wan had expected the biting chill but nothing had prepared him for the icy desolation that poured from the young one. The wintry touch of untimely death threatened to shatter him. But he also held a squirming, solid child, longing for comfort. Determined to help at all costs, he ignored the desperate callings of hungry oblivion and soul-searing dread to concentrate on the boy.

Sitting down upon the grassy embankment, he pulled the apparition onto his lap and gently wrapped his arms about the glowing, blue form. Softly whispered words of comfort and hope quieted the lad.

Sinking into meditation, looking to the Force for guidance and the strength to push away his own dread, he could sense the trembling boy's energy field floating alongside. The child's aura of terror, fear and loss began to dissipate as warmth and calm of Obi-Wan's embrace seeped into his very soul.

Sure now of his task, he began to sink into the enveloping heart of the Force. The vast currents of vibrant living energy dipped and swirled about him, filling him with hope and perfect tranquillity. He felt rather than saw the child's face grow still in astonishment. And yet Obi-Wan deepened his connection, searching for a way to help the boy.

Even as Obi-Wan hunted for the right path, he could sense the child's glowing presence in the endless strength of the Living Force. But the young one hung back, afraid. The Padawan could sense, almost taste the fear of the unknown in the boy even as the child's aura trembled at the vastness of it all.

_'It's too big. I can't…'_ The whisper was barely heard.

"Don't be afraid, young one." Smiling, Obi-Wan lifted one hand to sweep toward the ethereal light. "It is the Force itself that you see, the combined energies of all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us even as it binds the galaxy together."

The boy shook his head and buried himself in Obi-Wan's tunics. _'I'll be lost forever.' _

Lifting the child's head with a gentle touch, the padawan reassured him. "No, you are already part of it. Luminous beings are we, each of us in the Force."

_'Luminous?' _

Obi-Wan gave the child a swift, enveloping hug. Hunting to find just the right words to put the young one at ease, he said, "It means glowing." Leaning down to brush his cheek against the boy's dark hair, he pointed out the obvious, "And you are glowing much stronger than I am."

A tremulous almost-giggle answered him. _'I'm blue.' _

"Indeed you are." With that, he took one ethereal hand in his own. "Are you ready?"

Nodding, the child held on tight as they glided down towards the welcoming heart of the Force.

Without thought and time, between the blinking of an eye and the endless light, the two searched the radiance for a place where the child could be free. Carefully flying on the wings of hope and dreams, they hunted through the cascades of Living energy until, at last, the way home yawed before them.

Balanced in all things, the path had been incredibly easy and appallingly difficult but now the boy stood on the brink of forever. Gazing at Obi-Wan with huge eyes, he looked both hopeful and frightened.

_'Can you come with me?' _

The Padawan shook his head and replied gently, "Little one, it is not my time yet."

_'I know. I'm scared though.' _

Kneeling down, he hugged the trembling child one last time. "Don't be afraid. The Force is ready to welcome you home."

_'Thank you. I will never forget you but I don't even know your name.' _

"I'm Obi-Wan, my young friend. And you are?" He smiled to ease the fear still clinging to the boy.

_'I'm Rael. I'll wait for you on the other side. Is that okay?' _

Obi-Wan reached up to ruffle the apparition's dark hair. Drawing one hand down to caress the soft cheek, he said, "Always okay." Drawing back, he bowed to the young one. "Good-bye, Rael. And may the Force be with you."

Nodding once as he gathered his courage, the child turned away and slowly glided towards the glowing warm heart of the all-embracing Force. One glance back to give a final farewell and then Rael was gone.

Coming out of his mediation, content in the knowledge that he had been able to help the boy find peace, Obi-Wan looked out into the leafy garden. There was a calm tranquillity here once more. Rael had been right. He only needed a helping hand to find his way home.

The end.


End file.
